Dear Archway Parents and Students,

This year Archway Arete will be competing in the Scripps Spelling Bee! We are excited to refine our spelling and public speaking skills in this friendly and fun competition.

The timeline for the spelling bee program is as follows:

Mon. 11/16 – Spelling Bee information distributed to Parents and Students

Tues. 11/17– Optional spelling practice for 1st and 2nd graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Tues. 11/24 – Optional spelling practice for 3rd and 4th graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Tues. 12/1 – Optional spelling practice for 5th graders in Mr. Posner's room from 3:10-4:10

Friday 12/4 – Each child will take a grade-level qualifier test in their classroom. The test will be a selection of 20-25 words from the challenging Scripps 100 word list for your child’s grade level. The top five scorers in each class will be selected to participate in their oral classroom spelling bee.

12/7-12/10 – Oral classroom Spelling Bees will take place within this week.  The top speller from each classroom will go on to participate in the Archway Arete school-wide spelling bee on 1/6.

Wed. 1/6 – The school-wide spelling bee will be held in the evening at Archway Arete! The top spellers in each class compete in the school-wide bee and only the top speller in each grade will move on to the Great Hearts District bee after winter break.

Tues. 1/26 – The top five spellers from Archway Arete will compete in the Great Hearts District Bee at Archway Veritas! (Details and times will follow.)

While participation in the spelling bee program is voluntary, we encourage every student at Archway Arete to participate in their written and oral classroom spelling bees, as well as the optional spelling practice bees! Here are the word lists that your child will need to study to prepare for this competition: 2015, 2016 Spelling Bee Word Lists. You may also go to Spelling Bee Resources to find additional material and helpful strategies. Students should first learn the 100 study words for their grade level. Please note that the words on this list are quite challenging. The challenge is part of the fun! When your child masters the 100 grade specific words, they are ready to learn the study words for all other grade levels. There are a total of 450 words on the 2016 School Spelling Bee Study List. Finally, when your child masters the study words for grade levels 1-8, they may get a head start on the next level of competition by learning the words on the “Spell It.” This will prepare them for Great Hearts District Bee should they advance to this level of competition.

Please direct questions to Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith at MPorcelli@archwayarete.org and hsmith@archwayarete.org. We are delighted to celebrate the English language with your children through the Scripps spelling bee program!

Very truly yours,

Ms. Porcelli and Ms. Smith